


Literary Comparisons

by EHyde



Series: Literary Analysis [2]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Gen, Not a Crossover, The Wheel of Time
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-15
Updated: 2014-04-15
Packaged: 2018-01-19 11:36:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,170
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1468036
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EHyde/pseuds/EHyde
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Charlie tries to give Sam a self-esteem boost with cosplay, fantasy novels, and literary comparisons.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Literary Comparisons

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah so I was going to just write a comparison/meta thingie on why Sam Winchester is the Dragon Reborn but I thought doing it this way was more fun. I hope it still makes a little bit of sense even if you haven't read WoT.

“Hey Sam, it’s Charlie.”

Sam smiled. He’d known who was on the phone when he answered, of course, but it was always good to hear the voice of a friend. They had so few of those, lately. “Hey, Charlie. What’s up?”

“So I’ve got a thing you might be interested in.”

“What, like a case?”

“No, no!” Sam could practically hear Charlie shaking her head. “It’s, um, a book signing.”

“… a book signing.”

“Yeah, the last book of this epic fantasy series just came out and the author’s doing a tour—well, not the author author, the author’s dead, but the guy who finished the series, and he’s got a tour stop pretty close to you guys, and well, I know you weren’t as into LARPing as Dean was but you’re also way more into books so I thought this might be more your thing …”

Sam paused. “It’s not the  _Supernatural_  novels, is it?”

“What? No. Definitely not.  _Wheel of Time_.”

The name was vaguely familiar, though he didn’t know anything about the series. Sam considered. They weren’t in the middle of a case, and the world didn’t seem to be in immediate danger … “Sure,” he said. “Sure, that sounds like fun.”

“ _Awesome_. Hey, I don’t suppose I could convince you to go in costume?”

“I haven’t read these books, I don’t even know who any of the characters are.”

“Don’t even worry about that. I’ll bring something for you, it’ll be great. So, it’s tomorrow, so I’ll come by your place in the afternoon?”

“Um,” said Sam. He wanted to point out that he hadn’t exactly given a “yes” on the costume thing, but Charlie had already brushed past that topic. “Sounds good,” he said. “See you then.”

Charlie actually showed up in the morning. “I figured, we’ll get there early, have a chance to hang out with all the real fans for a while before the crowd shows up.” She was wearing a renaissance-ish dress with some sort of rainbow-striped scarf draped over her shoulders, and a brown wig.

“You’re really expecting big crowds at a book signing?” Dean asked, skeptically.

“Trust me,” said Charlie. “There’ll be a crowd.”

“I don’t know about this whole ‘hanging out with the real fans’ thing,” said Sam. “I mean. I  _haven’t_  read the books.”

“No problem,” said Charlie. “I brought the first one, you can start it on the drive.” She pulled a thick but well-worn paperback out of her bag, and Sam eyed it hesitantly.

“Look,” he said. “I know you’re really into this but I’m not sure … are all the books this huge?”

Charlie grinned. “Yup.” Then, “Look, you don’t have to read them, I know you’ve got big stuff going on, I just meant, I’ve got it if you’re interested. Now let’s get you into costume!” She pulled out an assortment of clothing from a duffel bag. “This is all LARP stuff but I found some stuff in the right colors … it should definitely work.” She handed Sam a jacket in red and gold, and a white shirt to wear under it.

“Lacy collar, huh?” Dean asked. “ _Nice_ , Sammy.”

“Shut up, it’s historic,” Charlie shot at him. “ _Handmaiden_.”

“So who are you supposed to be then? Princess Doctor Who?”

“I,” said Charlie, “am Egwene al’Vere, the Watcher of the Seals, the Flame of Tar Valon, the Amyrlin Seat. Basically I’m like the head wizard,” she added as explanation.

“Watcher of the Seals?” Sam asked.

“Oh so … yeah. There are seals holding the Dark One in his prison,” Charlie explained. “Part of the Amyrlin Seat’s job, historically speaking, is to keep those seals from breaking.”

“Hope you’re doing a better job of it than, uh, than we did,” said Dean.

“As of the second-to-last book, yes,” said Charlie. Dean shot her a high-five. “But this guy here thinks it’s a good idea to break the seals on purpose so we can fight the Dark One on our own terms.”

“Hey,” said Sam. “Don’t look at me, I don’t even know who I’m supposed to be.”

“You, my friend,” said Charlie, plopping a red wig on top of his head, “are Rand al’Thor, the Dragon Reborn.”

Sam did  _not_ keep the wig on for the drive. He didn’t make any promises he’d wear it at all. It was tight and it itched. But apparently, it was very important that this character have red hair. “You realize we just like … traded hair colors, right?”

Charlie shrugged. “Eh. There are some redheaded ladies in the book but they’re not _nearly_  as cool.”

“Okay, so you’re head wizard and I’m like … the chosen one?”

“Basically.”

“Huh. That’s—” Sam broke off.

“What?”

“Well I just mean … usually that’s Dean’s role.”

“Sam … Rand al’Thor is  _basically_  the epic high fantasy version of  _you_ ,” said Charlie.

Sam didn’t believe it for a moment. He was the boy with demon blood—impure, tainted. Not hero material. Still, he grabbed the paperback that Charlie had brought along and flipped to the beginning.

There were already people there when they arrived at the bookstore. Sam was glad to see that some of them were in costume too—he and Charlie wouldn’t be the only ones. Charlie waved cheerfully as they approached, and Sam was relieved to see that she wasn’t worrying about staying in character—Sam could stay in character when he needed to, on a job, but it wasn’t his idea of fun.

“ _Nice_ ,” said one of the costumed fans, looking Sam up and down. “You really look the part,” he said. “My lord Dragon,” he added. He was wearing a long black coat with a dragon pin on the collar, so Sam figured he must be dressed as one of his followers, or something.

“Um, thanks,” Sam said.

“He hasn’t actually read the books,” Charlie explained. “I just recruited him.”

“What, you just had a really tall friend and decided it had to happen?”

“No!” Charlie protested. “I totally thought he’d have a good time anyway. You’re having a good time, right?”

“Uh,” said Sam, “Yeah?” He actually … kind of was? He was totally out of his element, but it … didn’t really seem like a bad element to be in. “I did get through the first few chapters,” he added.

“Oh?” the man in the black coat asked. “What do you think?”

Sam shrugged. “Charlie kind of spoiled a few things for me with the whole ‘you’re cosplaying the Dragon Reborn’ thing,” he said. “But uh, so far, so good?” Honestly, it all seemed pretty generic, farmboy-falls-headfirst-into-adventure, and he probably would have stopped had it not been for the prologue, which seemed to promise something more. “I don’t know who you’re supposed to be,” he added.

“I mean, that’s kind of spoilery too,” the man said. Sam could have said that was fine, he really didn’t think he’d have time to read a twelve—thirteen?—book series anyway, but it didn’t really matter, so he let it go.

More and more people were arriving—Charlie hadn’t been kidding about there being a crowd. “Wait, so, all these people are coming and this isn’t even the real author?” he asked.

She nodded. “This series has a pretty intense fanbase.”

“Er, like …?” Sam’s experience with the intense fanbase of one series in particular had been, well.

“Actually, no,” said Charlie, picking up on what he meant. “There’s, um, surprisingly little fanfiction in epic high fantasy as a whole.” Though, Sam supposed, fanfiction probably wasn’t actually all that weird when it was  _actually_  about fictional characters. “Ooh, there’s Cadsuane,” Charlie added. “I’m gonna go say hi.” She headed towards the opposite end of the bookstore, and Sam sat down and opened the book. Read a few paragraphs, then closed it again. Stood up and turned back to the man in the black jacket, who wasn’t speaking to anyone else at the moment.

“So,” he said, “I’m not actually worried about spoilers. Can you tell me what it is exactly that makes this guy Rand so special? Charlie seemed to think—” Charlie seemed to think that he and Sam had something in common. “I mean, so far he seems like a pretty standard heroic archetype, but she said it wasn’t quite like that. What makes him different from every other chosen savior?”

“Well …” The man paused. “You really don’t care about spoilers?” Sam shook his head. “So first of all, he’s actually more of a prophesied destroyer than a prophesied savior. The guy in the prologue, Lews Therin? I mean, he destroyed the world, and Rand’s his reincarnation. It just so happens that being the prophesied destroyer means that he also, coincidentally, is the only one with enough power to actually save the world. But people don’t see him that way.”

“Huh …” Okay, so that explained some of what Charlie was getting at.

“I mean,” the man continued. “The  _narrative_  definitely treats him like your typical chosen one. But in-world, people basically see the Dragon Reborn as the antichrist.”

“So … why do people follow me, then? In-world,” Sam asked. “You called me ‘lord dragon,’ right? Why does … whoever you’re cosplaying … follow me?”

“Well so, I’m a magic user,” the man said. “In this world, magic has a male half and a female half, and in the Age of Legends—that’s when the guys in the prologue were around—there were male and female magic users who worked together.”

“What happened?” Sam asked, because clearly, something had happened.

“Um, well, long story short, the Dark One, ultimate evil and all that, has been imprisoned for basically ever.”

“Right,” Sam said.

“And these guys back in the Age of Legends accidentally poked a hole in his prison.”

“How do you do something like that accidentally?” If it weren’t a work of fiction, he’d ask Cas. “I thought there were seals.”

“Nah, those came later. Anyway, it wasn’t enough of a hole to actually free the Dark One, but he was able to corrupt the male half of the one power—the source of magic—before they managed to patch up the hole. So now the magic that guys use is tainted and any man who does use it—I mean, any man who  _can_  use it, whether he wants to or not—will eventually go crazy and die, and if he’s very lucky he won’t kill anyone else along with him.”

“So your character …”

The man in the black jacket shrugged. “It’s the end of the world. I have something I can use to fight the forces of darkness, so I’m gonna go down fighting.”

“So wait,” Sam said. “You can use that power that’s been tainted by evil, and still be good?”

“Some characters are convinced you can’t,” said the man. “But sure. I mean, it all comes down to what you do with it, who you help and who you hurt, right?”

“But you  _might_ hurt people,” Sam said. “Right? I mean, the guy in the prologue …”

“Right, and he wasn’t evil, really.”

“He just what, did more harm than good while trying to do the right thing?”

“Basically.”

“And that makes it okay?”

“Man, you’re really getting into this for someone who hasn’t read the books.”

“Sorry,” said Sam. “It’s just … nevermind.”

“Hey guys, ‘sup?” Charlie was back.

“Not much,” said Sam.

“Just discussing the nature of good and evil.”

“You know,” said Charlie, “like you do.”

Sam laughed. “He was telling me about the books,” he explained. “About Rand and his tainted blood, and—” He’d said blood. “Magic, I mean, tainted magic.”

Charlie looked at Sam. “See, that’s what I like about Rand,” Charlie said. “He’s not most people’s favorite character. Most people like Mat, he’s the funny one, the cool one. But you’re—Rand—is the one with everything stacked against him. Everyone thinking he’s evil, or needs to be controlled. And you—he—keeps on fighting against that, keeps doing what he knows he has to do, and that’s what lets him save the world, really.”

Sam wasn’t an idiot, he knew Charlie was talking about him. Did she really see him that way? He’d had too many run-ins with other hunters who only ever knew him as the one who let Lucifer out. Which, well, he had. And everything he ever tried to do to make things right, to fix things, only ended up failing, letting more people down. How could Charlie look at him and see a hero? Probably she was projecting too much of this other character onto him … because really, they were just casual acquaintances when you got down to it, and everything she knew of his past came secondhand, from Chuck’s books, and …

“You haven’t even read the last book,” he said. “How do you know he saves the world?”

Charlie just gave him a look. “Come on. You think after fourteen books the good guys are gonna lose? Though,” she added. “I may be projecting a bit. Rand does remind me an awful lot of someone who saved the world already.”

**Author's Note:**

> I'm fallenwithstyle on tumblr if you want to come say hi!


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